When I used to regularly attend morning lap swim, I would often see this older man with a huge belly. Sometimes we would even split a lane. I remember that I could always swim faster than him.
After some time, I started to find it difficult to wake up early enough to go to lap swim. Eventually I stopped going altogether. Two years later, I finally found the time to get back in the pool. The first couple of laps made me take back my overconfidence in thinking that I could swim my way out of a flood or natural disaster. I could hardly catch my breath and it seemed like every part of my body ached.
A few minutes later the guy with the big belly started swimming in the lane next to me. Since I had last seen him, I had lost about 5 pounds. Meanwhile, his belly seemed to have grown bigger, yet he was in significantly better shape than I was. I could safely say that I had no chance of keeping up with his pace.
I asked myself, how could this have happened? I am younger, slimmer, and was always faster than him. In fact, at first glance the only thing this guy has on me is height. So what changed?
My guess? While I had given up on working out, this belly man had probably been keeping up with his morning exercise regimen the entire time.
For years the tortoise and hare story has taught us to beware of overconfidence, that slow and steady wins the race. I don’t think this is necessarily the case every time. But I do believe that persistence and constant training can have remarkable effects on an outcome. My dad always says that persistence rules the world: a woman, no matter how uninterested, can always lose out to a man’s steady persistence.
So? We should strive to put forth consistent effort in whatever it is we desire to become. There’s no one to blame but ourselves if we fail to achieve something readily achievable. But how do we cultivate the motivation needed to keep up the effort? By looking at the results.
We should keep track of what happens when we slack or neglect to exert ourselves diligently. I know when I stopped swimming I felt tired, sluggish, and not as alert. And the first minutes I got back in the pool, I felt so out of shape that I swore never to let it happen again. There are consequences for every action, or lack of action. When we focus on these results and see enough of the negative aspects of these consequences, we will have sufficient information for us to buy the idea of changing our habits.
I have this memory of going to swim with you and Kim at the Canyonview pool. You two were much faster. After that I felt demoralized and don’t think I went swimming much after that! I was young and didn’t know anything back then. You make a good point, though, and this year I’ve resolved to exercise more regularly.
Funny, I didn’t swim much all through college (or even after) either! Finding motivation can be difficult… especially when there are so many other things that require less work and seem more fun. Mostly, we like to make it hard for ourselves and learn the hard way before resolving to be better.